Auburn has failed to capitalize on any of its momentum from earlier in the season. (Associated Press)

ATHENS, Georgia -- Before the season began, Auburn head coach Tony Barbee believed he had improved talent, a more athletic group that would put an improved offensive product on the floor.

Halfway through the SEC schedule, Auburn's offense may have hit rock bottom.

Mired in a team-wide shooting slump, the Tigers' offense failed to take advantage of a bad Georgia team and fell 57-49 on the road in Stegeman Coliseum, Auburn's fifth straight loss in a season that has failed to live up to any of its early promise.

"Anemic, is what our offense was tonight," Barbee said. "Guys couldn't make shots, guys couldn't make plays. It is what it is."

Desperate to shake things up on offense, Auburn (8-12, 2-5) inserted Chris Denson -- who led the Tigers with 18 points on Saturday against Ole Miss -- into the starting lineup in place of point guard Josh Wallace, a defense-first player.

Denson got off to a fast start with six points early, but Georgia (9-11, 3-4) responded by packing the lane and getting multiple defenders in both Denson and Frankie Sullivan's way when they tried to take the ball to the hoop.

"Our offense wasn't very good," Barbee said. "We didn't execute very good, and we didn't make shots when we had them."

Auburn's outside shooters haven't been on target in the past four games. Mired in a 15-of-62 slump from beyond the 3-point line, the Tigers made just 4-of-20 from that distance on Wednesday night and shot just 28.3 percent overall.

To make matters worse, Auburn made just 55.6 percent of its free throws, including bad nights from both Denson (4-of-9) and Sullivan (4-of-8).

"I take the most shots, took the most free throws today, and I didn't come through," Sullivan said. "There's not no I in team, but sometimes you've just got to know when it's on you, and I thought it was on me today."

Sullivan tied for the team high with Allen Payne at 13 points, and Denson chipped in 12, but the pair combined to shoot just 8-of-24 and 1-of-8 from 3-point range.

Other than Payne, nobody else scored more than five points.

Nobody stepped in to fill the void, and Georgia (9-11, 3-4) came up with a five-point burst in the final three minutes that Auburn couldn't match to get their third win in the last four games despite shooting just 23.5 percent from 3-point range and 57.7 percent on free throws.

"That was an SEC dogfight," Bulldogs coach Mark Fox said. "It's like a 6-3 football game, and it might not be pretty for the highlights."

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led the Bulldogs with 20 points, 10 rebounds and sealed Auburn's fate by making a putback with 1:07 left that gave Georgia a 50-46 lead.

And the way the Tigers have been shooting the ball, Auburn really had no shot to make up the separation.

"You're either going to make them or not," Sullivan said. "We can't miss every shot we take, every free throw we take."

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